DIY Tea Dyed Onesie


Babies grow out of everything SO quickly. I just reluctantly put away all of Emerson's 0-3 month summer clothes and was so sad to see a physical representation of time passing.

One staple of E's wardrobe has been these white onesies. I'll buy a pack of them on Amazon and in the warm weather, let her wear them around the house. In the colder season, I layer them underneath her outfits for extra warmth. They're so inexpensive that I don't mind them getting trashed with spit up or blow outs. In fact, one time, her blow out was so bad that I literally just cut the onesie off her body and threw it in the trash to avoid major clean up.

As I bought onesies for winter, I had the urge to spruce them up a bit. And when I saw this DIY via Moonologie, I knew it was the perfect organic fix.


Click to see the DIY after the jump! 






DIY Tea Dyed Onesie

What you'll need
White Onesies
Box of tea (I used Lady Lipton's Black Tea with Bergamot and Citrus)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
Large pot
Wooden spatula

Directions
Prewash the white onesies in baby detergent. Remove from the washer and don't dry them.

Boil a big pot of water, enough for at least 2 inches of water to cover the submerged onesies. Once the water is boiling, drape 15 tea bags over the edges and let sit for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the tea seep for another 15 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir the water around to make sure the coloring is consistent. Place the onesies in the tea and push to the bottom of the pot with a wooden spatula, making sure all the fabric is submerged. Let sit for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. You can leave the onesie in the tea for longer if you want a darker color.

Drain the water, leaving the onesies in the pot. Fill it back up with lukewarm water and 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar and 1 tsp salt. Stir around with wooden spatula and let sit for 15-20 minutes to "seal" the color in the fibers of the cotton. Drain the water from the pot and run the onesies gently under lukewarm water, ringing them to get the vinegar and tea smell out. Hang dry or put in the dryer on gentle cycle.

Once dry, gently iron on low to even further seal the color. Then run through a normal laundry cycle with baby detergent before putting on your babe.

If you aren't happy with the color upon the first drying, you can put it back in tea for a longer period of time, or use bleach to lighten it up.


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